Callison: Restaurateur regrets hasty Facebook retorts

If Randy Derheim could have a do-over from about 8 p.m. Wednesday and running into much of Thursday, well, he'd take it in a flash.

But he can't, and so what the co-owner of four Sioux Falls restaurants plans to do from now on is follow the "24-hour rule." Essentially, that means walking away from any comment on social media and giving yourself time to think about it before you respond.

He didn't do that Wednesday after a customer posted a one-star review on the Elements at 8th Facebook page. Instead, Derheim typed a hasty defense of his manager and in doing so ignited a summer blizzard of controversy that could take months to thaw out social media users.

It started when Todd Gannon posted his review on Facebook, mere minutes after finishing his meal. But there was more to it than just a night out for four adults and a toddler.

Gannon, who did not respond to a paid Facebook message asking him to contact me, wrote, "Food was lousy, and the manager followed us out in the parking lot to tell us to bring a toy for our son next time so he doesn't bang on the table. Thanks for ruining my wife's birthday."

His son had done a little pounding on the table, Gannon acknowledged, estimating it lasted 60 to 90 seconds.

In an early response to Gannon's review, Derheim wrote that Gannon's 2-year-old had caused $300 damage to the table and invited Gannon to come back and see it. Another response asked Gannon to contact the restaurant with "any offer of restitution."

Ouch.

Those posts later were deleted, but Gannon had copied the comments. Even over the phone, you can feel Derheim shaking his head as he reviews the exchange that followed.

Others jumped in. Remarks included "Never been there and now never will"; "Too bad, we were planning a huge party there with 30 or more guests and $5,000 to spend. I'm looking elsewhere now"; "What in the world are your tables made of? Gold?"; and "What other restaurants does this man own? I'd like to avoid them, too."

He also says he needs to become more social media savvy. In the past, a dissatisfied customer might call the next day or, more recently, send an e-mail. The unhappy customer might tell seven or eight friends. Now, the reaction is immediate, and he's telling hundreds of people about it by hitting "send."

Elements on 8th isn't alone in its customer service making the news. In mid-July, a recording of a Comcast customer-service representative urging a caller to stay with the company — over and over and over again, for about 20 minutes — flashed around the Internet. And there are many more examples.

Maybe Comcast learned from that. Derheim says he has.

"Feedback is an important part of our company," he says. "There are actions we'll take as a team to learn from this. It's something that we don't want to experience again. We don't go to work every day to fail. Nobody does."

If only the clock could be turned back. "We all would have done things differently," Derheim says. "I hope the parents would appreciate that. Maybe the parents would have done something differently."

Derheim says, frankly, he does not know what will happen next, whether he will speak to Gannon, issue an apology or stand his ground on the suggestion of restitution.